A Day Cleaning the Garage
by LN8866
Summary: Michael and Fiona in the garage cleaning out boxes.


A/N~This is for Amanda...she asked me for fluff a long time ago & I never finished it. Also to all the readers and Twitter friends who love fluff!

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Michael stood in the shower curtain aisle of their local bed and bath store. "Fi, its a shower curtain. Get the gray one and let's get out of here."

"I am not going to put up with a gray shower curtain any longer. I want some color. Is that too much to ask for?" Fiona lectured Michael. Cocking her head to the side, she grabbed two curtains and waved them in front of Michael. "Mauve or sage green. You pick."

He studied the two colors and gave his answer. "Gray"

"Michael Westen, you are the most insufferable..." Fiona yelled, indicating how truly frustrated she was with Michael at that moment. Before she could go any further or get louder, he grabbed her by the waist and gave her a kiss.

Reaching down, he took the sage green curtain from her hand. "I'll compromise and take the green." Grabbing the shower curtain rod and the curtain in one hand, he took Fiona's hand in the other and guided her to the cashier. If he didn't guide her along, he would end up spending hundreds more than he intended to that day.

As they waited in line, Michael's cell phone rang. He rolled his eyes when he saw the caller ID. "Its my Mom. Hi Mom." Michael said in an overly happy voice.

"_Michael, you said you were going to come over today and clean out the garage. I told you I wanted to redecorate and need you to get those boxes out." Maddie said._

Covering the phone, Michael looked at Fiona and said "Did I ever mention anything to you about cleaning out the garage?"

"No. I would have remembered." Fiona said.

"Mom, does it have to be today? Fi and I kinda have plans." Michael said, shrugging his shoulders and hoping Maddie wouldn't give him much trouble.

"_Well, if you don't come today, I will just put all your boxes into the back yard and with the storm we are supposed to get tonight I just hope your things don't get ruined." _

Michael grimaced as he said quickly "We'll be there in a few minutes. I'm just cleaning out the boxes. I'm not going to Fix anything today."

_Maddie let out a squeal of approval. "Thanks sweetie! I'll even make sandwiches for you kids!"_

Seeing his eyes widen in horror as he hung up the phone, Fiona smiled and asked "She wants to cook?"

"We'll get sandwiches on the way. This won't take long. I just have to go through some boxes."  
Michael said.

"Its ok. We didn't have any plans until tonight anyway." Fiona said.

As Michael moved himself behind her, he pulled her hair to the side and kissed her neck. "I had hoped to have you to myself today." His voice was low and deep in her ear, causing Fiona to close her eyes and quicken her breathing.

Realizing it was their turn to pay, Fiona moved away from Michael and took out a credit card to pay for her purchases. As they walked to the car, Michael took her hand again. Once they were at the car, Michael gave Fiona a kiss as he opened her car door "What was that for?"

Michael smiled and said softly "For loving me and putting up with me when i am difficult, like I was in the store."

As Fiona got into the passengers seat of the charger, she looked over at Michael and ran her nails across the back of his neck. "Believe it or not, I had fun. It was like we were normal couple." She smiled at him and looked out the window as he pulled out of the parking lot, heading towards his mothers house.

When they pulled into the driveway, Fiona noticed Michael's relaxed body became more tense. His jaw clenched slightly and his breathing changed. He didn't get out of the car right away. "Michael, things have been ok with your mother even though she does make those snide comments that make my blood boil. Let's just go in and clean out the stuff she put aside and we'll be on our way. I'm here."

Michael took Fiona's hand and smiled. Getting out of the car, they walked into the house. Maddie squealed when she saw Fiona and rushed over, giving her a kiss. "Fiona! I'm so glad you came with Michael. You can help me make the sandwiches while Michael goes through his stuff."

"I was going to help Michael." Fiona said, snuggling into Michael's side. "I thought it'd be fun to look through his stuff and see what a teenage Michael Westen was like."

Maddie smiled at the sight of them standing so close to one another. "You kids have fun. When you are ready for lunch, let me know." She said as she turn both of them towards the garage and gently nudged them out the door. "Get to work and no fooling around. I want these boxes gone today."

As they entered the garage, Michael took a box and rifled through it, putting aside little items like a marble and some pictures. Fiona peered into the box. Reaching in she pulled out a Darth Vader action figure. "I never thought of you as an 'action figure' type of boy. I thought of you more as the kid who ran through the woods with his friends or played cops and robbers."

Michael let out a small laugh. "I did that too, but when I was home, Nate and I would play with these." He took the figure from Fiona and put it in the pile he was keeping. He held the figure and studied its features. Michael's voice sounded so far away to Fiona as he spoke. "I was Darth Vader and I always let Nate be Luke. Mom made us take turns being Han Solo."

"That's just too cute. Did she save the rest of your Star Wars stuff? ". Fiona questioned looking at the other boxes.

"I've looked for some of my old Star Wars stuff, but I haven't found it yet. I'm thinking my father threw almost all my stuff out when I left for the Army. I didn't want to ask my mom because it was something Nate and I would play with together..." Michael said, letting his voice trail off.

Fiona bit her lower lip. She wanted to cry for Michael. Instead of letting him dwell on the past, she pulled a pink squishy ball out of a box, hoping to divert him "Why do you have a pink ball?"

Fiona felt relieved when she saw Michael smile at the sight of the ball. "Thats a Pinky Ball. I will show you what I used to do with this, but we have to go outside."

Michael grabbed Fiona by the hand and pulled her into the back yard. "I throw the ball onto the roof and you have to catch it." He threw the ball at an angle and Fiona scrambled to catch it. She missed by a few feet. Grabbing the ball from the ground she threw it towards the roof, instead hitting the house. She said "Let me try again."

"No! You missed so its my turn." Michael said reaching for the ball. Fiona ran at the ball and snatched it before Michael could get it. She opened her mouth to tease Michael but instead he wrestled her to the ground.

"You tackled me!"

"You let me!" Michael said as he pinned Fiona to the lawn but with one swift move she pushed him off of her.

Maddie was inside watching the scene from the kitchen window. She smiled as she saw Fiona dodge Michael as he tried to take the ball from her. Finally Michael grabbed Fiona by the arm and pulled her close to his chest. Looking deep into her eyes he gave her a kiss. After the kiss ended, Michael rested his forehead on Fiona's and said "We should go back into the garage and finish going through my stuff."

Fiona gave Michael a peck on the cheek and headed into the garage, with Michael not far behind. Once inside the garage, Michael continued going through his boxes. Fiona pulled out an old picture of Michael with his arms wrapped around another girl. Wagging it at Michael she asked "Who is this?"

"This is Janine Mason. I dated her right before I left for the Army. I always felt bad about never saying goodbye."

"You never said goodbye to her either?" Fiona gave Michael a pouty look. "I thought I was special enough to be the only one to not get a goodbye."

Michael looked into Fiona's eyes and said "I left Janine because I didn't know how to say goodbye. I just wanted to leave my house and get away from everyone. I left you in the middle of the night because I didn't want to say goodbye but I had to leave. If it was my choice we'd still be in Ireland" Pausing for a moment, he kissed her forehead and said "Janine may have been the first girl I dated, but you have been my first, only and true love."

Fiona's eyes filled with tears. She wrapped her arms around Michael's waist as he continued to look through the boxes. After he cleared out another box, he stopped and told Fiona he was going inside the house to get some drinks. Inside the kitchen, Maddie asked "How's the cleaning going?"

"Its going ok. I have a few more boxes left. I'm sorry I'm taking so long. I'm just showing Fiona my old things."

Maddie smiled and put her hand on Michael's arm. "That's Fine. Take your time. It's a lot of stuff to go through."

Fiona walked into the kitchen and took the glass of iced tea that Michael was holding. "Do you still have the rest of Michael's Star Wars toys tucked away someplace?"

Michael looked at Fiona with a scowl and then looked back at his mother. Michael noticed that Maddie was getting teary eyed, so he tried to soothe her. "Mom, Fiona just wants to see what toys we had. She found Darth Vader and was curious about the rest. I'm not going to take it or throw it in the garbage."

Maddie nodded "Of course I kept them. I had to hide them so Frank wouldn't throw them out. They are in the attic."

Fiona and Maddie watched Michael climb into the attic. "How is he doing?" Maddie asked.

"He's ok. He is in a better mood lately, but if something reminds him of Nate it changes his mood. Usually he'll become very sullen when something hits him." Fiona said, stopping when she heard Michael leaving the attic.

He put two boxes on the living room floor and motioned for Fiona to sit next to him. She obliged and listened to Michael as he told her more than she ever wanted to know about Star Wars. He even played the movie for Fiona, because he realized that in all their time together as a couple she had never seen the movie. Maddie watched as they sat on couch in the living room, Michael holding Fiona close to him and stealing small kisses when they didn't think Maddie was looking. Sometime towards the end of the movie they both fell asleep on the couch, Michael still holding tight to Fiona. Maddie took a blanket from her bed and covered them.

It was dark when Fiona opened her eyes. She gently removed Michael's arm from her waist and slipped outside for a moment. Hearing movement in the garage, she cautiously entered but was surprised to see Madeline rummaging through boxes.

"Madeline, I'm sorry we didn't finish the boxes. We'll take them home in the morning." Fiona said, feeling bad that Maddie was up so late sorting things in the garage.

Maddie smiled and gave Fiona a hug. "It's perfectly fine dear. I don't mind at all." Maddie let go of Fiona and continued. "Having to be up late tonight is well worth it because I haven't seen Michael so happy and free in...well, forever. He was always serious and driven. Since Nate died and all the other stuff that happened with the CIA, its nice to see him smile. You made that boy so happy today when you were playing outside with him, looking at his Star Wars stuff and watching the movie with him. Made me happy to see him happy."

Fiona smiled gently at Maddie. "He's been hurting for so long that when I saw him be happy today about even the smallest thing, I let him have that happiness."

"He was happy because you were here with him. It's not the things he was finding, he could find them on his own just as easily. It was because he could share them with you and that made him happy. You are his happiness."

Fiona wiped a tear from her cheek and said softly "Don't stay up too late. I'm going to get Michael up and see if he wants to move to the spare room, if that's ok."

Maddie nodded and said "Make him move soon or else his back will get stiff from sleeping on that couch."

Fiona went inside and woke Michael up with a kiss. Whispering she said "We fell asleep, its one in the morning. Let's go to the spare room." She gently pulled him up and led him off to the room, shutting the door behind them.


End file.
